New & noteworthy
Institute of Physics PublishingUpgrades electronic journals service
Institute of Physics Publishing has launched a new and improved version of its electronic journals service. The new service is designed to enhance on-screen navigation, by providing access to content in fewer clicks.
The last significant upgrade to the service took place in April 2000. This work centred on enhancing performance, enabling faster access to journal content even at peak times when traffic to the site is at its heaviest. The recent launch brings significant improvements to the service's interface together with some useful new features.
New features include "Content finder", which allows readers to go straight to any given article or issue without having to "drill down"through the journal content. For librarians, a new channel has been added that includes registration and subscription details, pricing and ordering information, and tailored online help pages. Similar channels for other key user groups, authors and referees, have also been introduced. A new facility enabling institutional subscribers to add their organizations' logos to Institute of Physics Web pages has been added, and those using usernames and passwords to access personalization options, etc. will now find the process more user friendly and seamless.
Institute of Physics – http://www. iop.org/EJ/
Red Earth SoftwareReleases Policy Patrol 1.2
Red Earth Software, developer of e-mail management solutions, has released Policy Patrol 1.2, an add-on for Exchange and Lotus Notes that adds disclaimers and signatures to outgoing e-mails. Policy Patrol offers advanced disclaimer functionality such as user-based disclaimers, formatting and merge fields. These features are designed to increase the relevance of disclaimers and thus improve their efficacy. Furthermore, Policy Patrol is one of the few products capable of adding disclaimers to internal mails.
Policy Patrol (disclaimer module) is the first of a suite of e-mail policy enforcement products and is priced per user, starting from $119 for ten users. A 30-day evaluation version can be downloaded from: http://www.policypatrol.com/downloadfrm.htm. Policy Patrol is also available in a small business version ($99) that allows users to add one global, external, non-formatted disclaimer.
Policy Patrol – http://www.policypatrol.com
Elsevier ScienceEndorses ICOLC guidelines
The International Coalition of Library Consortia (ICOLC) has issued an update to its guidelines concerning the metrics used in evaluating electronic journal and database usage. ICOLC focuses primarily on defining what publishers need to report regarding the usage of electronic content and database searching. The updated "Guidelines for Statistical Measures of Usage of Web-Based Information Resources" (update: December 2001) clarifies these requirements for reporting library usage of vendor systems. Elsevier Science has undertaken to support the updated ICOLC Guidelines and hence ScienceDirect Customer Usage Reports will be compliant with these ICOLC guidelines in all future report upgrades.
Elsevier Science has been actively involved with the development of published industry guidelines and intends to continue to work with ICOLC to publish further updates to the published guidelines, which focus on the reliability and standardization of the reported data and underlying metrics. Initially Elsevier Science will exchange its definitions of the reported data elements, metrics and supporting systems with ICOLC, a crucial starting point in determining standard ways of reporting usage. In addition, Elsevier Science will commission an official audit of ScienceDirect metrics and reports in 2002.
The complete original and updated guidelines with endorsing library consortia and additional information about the ICOLC can be found at http://www.library.yale.edu/consortia. These guideline updates are each initially endorsed by 70 library consortia from around the world. More consortia endorsements are added to each as received by the ICOLC.
ScienceDirect – http://www.sciencedirect.com
NISOEstablishes networked reference services committee
NISO, the National Information Standards Organization, has announced that a new standards committee is being organized to develop standards that will enable interoperable, networked reference services. Digital reference services are a rapidly growing extension of the traditional "behind the desk" reference service offered by virtually all libraries. Digital reference, whether delivered via real-time chat or asynchronous e-mail, allows library patrons to submit questions and receive answers via electronic means.
A NISO-sponsored Workshop on Networked Digital Reference Services was held on April 25-26, 2001 (http://www.niso.org/news/NISOinitiatives.html#digital)to explore potential areas of standardization. The workshop participants agreed that there are two general areas where standardization should be explored to support networked digital reference and possibly collaborative networked digital reference. Following on this workshop, the new standards committee will explore standards development in these two areas. Committee members will develop a question-processing transaction protocol for interchange of messages between digital reference domains. This will support processing and routing of questions and responses and packaging of other information to be exchanged. They will also build a metadata element set to identify and describe key components of both question and answer data and institutional and personal data.
The Networked Reference Services Committee (Standards Committee AZ) will be chaired by Sally H. McCallum (Library of Congress). McCallum intends to form the committee into two teams to deal with question processing transaction protocol and networked reference metadata element sets.
NISO – http://www.niso.org
New Opportunities FundAllocates further funding for computer learning projects in libraries
The New Opportunities Fund has announced further funding for computer learning projects in libraries and local centres in the UK, with £5.7 million going to 48 projects. This lifelong learning programme has now allocated over £77 million to around 830 computer learning projects.
At the same time, almost £5 million is going to 16 library services and increasing the number of computers for users as part of the People's Network. This is linking every public library in the UK to the Internet and the National Grid for Learning, thereby making the technology more accessible to local communities.
A New Opportunities Fund allocation of £827,138 will enable Somerset County Council to install over 300 new computers in its 34 libraries. Library users will have free access to the Internet on a broadband fast-loading system and to word-processing and spreadsheet facilities at all libraries. Paddy MacMaster, from the council, commented: "The opportunity presented by this award is a tremendous boost for the development of public access to electronic services in a predominantly rural county with a widely dispersed population. It reinforces the central role that libraries have in our communities to provide free access to information to all citizens."
In the North West of England, Manchester gets £609,470 for the city's libraries from the latest round of People's Network Funding. The library network will be upgraded to a broadband network providing a wide range of multimedia facilities. The batch of new computers for libraries across the city will take the total of library-based PCs to over 500. Many more Manchester residents will now have the opportunity to learn how they can use the Internet. Manchester Library already has a growing contingent of "silver surfers" and courses will be developed for other groups, including the city's many ethnic communities.
New Opportunities Fund – http://www.nof.org.uk
XaraReleases enhanced version of Xara Webstyle
Xara has launched a significantly enhanced version of Xara Webstyle that makes it easier to incorporate Webstyle graphics into Web pages. Owners of Webstyle 2.0 can upgrade to the latest version for free.
The new upgrade, Webstyle 2.1, includes a FrontPage add-in and a Dreamweaver extension which add "Webstyle graphics" to the Insert menu of FrontPage and Dreamweaver. Clicking Insert starts Webstyle, where users can create and edit their graphics, and a Save inserts them right back into the Web page,avoiding the need to fiddle with graphic files, HTML and javascript.
Xara Webstyle can be used to create professional quality, fully customized Web graphics. Webstyle is template based, offering mouse-over button bars,animated banner advertisements, headings and many other graphic types that are common to most Web pages, including complete themed graphic sets.
Bill and Belinda Gates FoundationSelects CLIR to administer 2002 access to learning award
The Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) has been selected to administer the annual Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Access to Learning Award, an international award given to a library, organization or country for efforts to expand access to information, computers and the Internet for all people.
The Access to Learning Award includes a grant of up to $1 million. Nominees will be reviewed by an international advisory committee of library and information technology experts, and judged on their efforts to make technology easily accessible to the public, train the public in using technology, educate staff on technology use and reach out to disadvantaged communities. Only entities outside of the USA are eligible for consideration.
The 2002 Access to Learning Award marks the third year the award has been given. The 2001 Access to Learning Award recipients were Proyecto Bibliotecas Guatemala (Probigua) and the Biblioteca del Congreso de la Nación Argentina for their efforts to expand free access to technology. The first award was given in 2000 to the Helsinki City Library in Finland. The library was among the first public libraries in the world to offer Internet access to the public.
The award will be announced and presented at the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) meeting in Glasgow in August 2002. A detailed, written case study of the award recipient's work will be published in print and online by CLIR.
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation – http://www.gatesfoundation.org
Internet 2/CNISponsor working group on documenting performance
Internet2 and the Coalition for Networked Information (CNI) are co-sponsoring a working group designed to propose standards and best practices for documenting, archiving, and retrieving the recordings of performances such as live theatre, musical compositions, dance, etc. One key component of the working group will be addressing dissertations that result in these performances. The following is a proposed charter providing details about the Performance Archive and Retrieval Working Group.
Advanced networks in combination with other developments in information technology, such as digital video/audio capture and synthesis, make it possible to document live theatre, musical compositions, dance and other performance in new ways. These developments also allow for the creation and documentation of new genres of performance such as collaborative distributed musical theater events.
These materials will be important in the future scholarship of the arts and humanities. They will be an integral part of new theses and dissertations and also of scholarly publications.
The mission of this working group is to propose standards and best practices for documenting, archiving, and retrieving the recordings of these performances in the new digital environment. Tasks for the working group include:
Researching existing technologies and practices for recording and archiving events.
Identifying standards for capturing digital audio and video.
Identifying technologies for archiving, searching, delivery, and presentation.
Building connections and consensus with scholarly publishing activities in the arts and humanities, including digital thesis projects, performing arts archives and library special collections.
Developing a best practices document for event documentation.
Hosting a workshop to disseminate results of best practices and standards proposals.
Expectations of the working group are as follows: members of the working group will be expected to participate in bi-monthly conference calls and conduct follow up activities between conference call meetings. Working group meetings will also be held in person at Internet2 member meetings, CNI task force meetings and other appropriate venues.
People interested in joining the working group should contact Ann Doyle, the manager of the Internet2 Arts and Humanities Initiatives, at adoyle@internet2.edu (with a copy to Clifford Lynch, Director, CNI, at cliff@cni.org).
Fretwell-Downing InformaticsTo provide software for MnLINK
MnLINK, the Minnesota Library Information Network, has contracted with Fretwell-Downing Informatics (FDI) for its VDX and ZPORTAL software for the MnLINK Gateway to facilitate electronic access and resource sharing within the state. ZPORTAL will provide access to different types of library resources including library catalogues and licensed commercial databases that have been made available to all Minnesota residents, including students, staff, and faculty at Minnesota educational institutions. In addition, Minnesota library users will use VDX within the MnLINK Gateway to request interlibrary loan resources from other MnLINK libraries.
Ken Behringer, the MnLINK executive director, explains why both FDI's ZPORTAL and VDX software products were selected for this online catalogue unification process. "The ZPORTAL software runs the Web-based linking service while the VDX software helps the libraries manage their interlibrary loan activity, which we anticipate will expand dramatically in this new environment." Another key feature offered by the VDX software, according to Behringer, is its ability to allow users to initiate interlibrary loan procedures throughout the state.
With the introduction of ZPORTAL and VDX solutions, MnLINK will expand the services it provides Minnesota residents, with easy Web-based access to all the resources contained in the libraries for the University of Minnesota, the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities, and the Minnesota State Agencies. Other participants in the MnLINK Gateway include private colleges, public libraries, K-12 school libraries, and special libraries.
Fretwell-Downing Informatics – http://www.fdgroup.com/fdi
The Academic Web Links Database ProjectPublishes site for investigating academic-related hyperlinks
The Academic Web Links Database Project has formally announced the publication of a Web site which aims to make freely available large databases of the Web link structures of the Web sites of national university systems,together with software to analyse them. The aim of this site is to provide a resource for researchers that wish to investigate academic-related hyperlinks and find commercial search engines unsatisfactory, for example because of unreliability or the need for exhaustive lists of matching pages.
This site currently contains databases of the link structure of UK universities in 2000 and in 2001, as well as Australian and New Zealand sites from 2000. It is the intention to publish new crawls as soon as they are available. The site will also contain various associated summary files, for example the most highly linked to URLs.
The data come from a specialist information science Web crawler and there are links to publications describing the methodology used, as well as technical information associated with the crawl that is not usually made public by crawler owners (the spam/banned pages list). The purpose of this is to make the origin of the data as transparent as possible.
Academic Web Links Database Project – http://cybermetrics.wlv.ac.uk/database/
Innovative InterfacesActive at ALA midwinter meeting
Innovative Interfaces, a provider of information technology for libraries,showed new Millennium products and announced new projects at the ALA Midwinter Meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Millennium's Java-based technology and, hence, its ability to employ technologies such as XML, means that Innovative can extend product capabilities into areas that other ILS vendors cannot. All of the products shown exemplify this flexible and extensible architecture.
Innovative introduced MetaSource, a suite of tools that allows libraries to effectively manage their digital collections. It includes tools for digital object storage, crawling external collections, and full support for metadata schemes such as Dublin Core. MetaSource is made up of Millennium Media Management, which creates and stores objects such as images, sound, and audio files; XML Harvester, which gathers XML records from any server; and, coming in 2002, Metadata Builder, which stores XML in the metadata scheme of choice. Together, these tools will create a comprehensive digital library management strategy.
Taking the OPAC beyond the desktop browser, AirPAC is Innovative's alternative OPAC solution for patrons using alternative access technology such as mobile phones and PDAs with wireless capability. AirPAC delivers the power of Millennium searching, including Advanced Search, limiting and sorting of results, and library-defined catalogue record and holdings displays. Patrons can walk through the library stacks with the Millennium OPAC in the palm of their hands, allowing them to issue searches against live catalogue data and retrieve item information. They can also interact with the Millennium system from anywhere accessible by wireless networks.
AirPAC extends Web-based library computing with a highly flexible and extensible architecture. It is an HTTP server that extracts catalogue data in XML format from the Millennium system and employs JavaServer Pages to format the output for the specific user agent. It is also compliant with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act and the Priority 1 checklist of the Web Accessibility Initiative of the W3 consortium.
Innovative showcased two new "efficiency tools" to help libraries with electronic subscription collections. The company's Electronic Journal Holdings Update for Millennium Serials enriches e-journal access to the Web OPAC by automatically updating holdings statements for e-journal subscriptions using holdings data acquired from e-journal providers and other third-party vendors. This is an efficient and cost-effective maintenance of holdings statements that gives the library accurate local records of electronic serials holdings and easy and direct access to electronic issues from the bibliographic record display.
Serials E-Checkin offers libraries an automated method of tracking e-journals, streamlining hours of tedious labour. It uses XML input from the serials vendors or e-journal publishers to record the checkin transactions. Suppliers (such as EBSCO) transmit an Electronic Packing Slip (EPS) to the library's Millennium server. Upon receipt of an issue, the system automatically processes the EPS and updates the checkin records with new issue information. It is currently in beta test at four Innovative libraries.
During the meeting, Innovative announced an alliance with Syndetic Solutions,offering libraries the option to link to Syndetic Solutions' enhanced bibliographic information via the MAP (Millennium Access Plus) linking tool. The content includes book-jacket images, tables of contents, book summaries, author biographies, and first chapters.
Innovative Interfaces – http://www.iii.com
InstranetAnnounces strategic alliance with business objects
Enterprise Information Exchange (EIX) specialists, InStranet, and Business Objects, a provider of business intelligence solutions, are to form a technology alliance partnership to offer customers a complementary solution for unstructured information management. Currently, Business Objects offers access to unstructured data through BUSINESSOBJECTS INFOVIEW, which provides a portal interface for accessing a range of information. This integration with InStranet's EIX solution will provide Business Objects customers with complementary capabilities for creating, organizing and securing unstructured information. InStranet's EIX provides companies with a secure, organized content warehouse for managing critical business information.
Business objects – http://www.businessobjects.com
OCLCILLiad interlibrary loan software is now ISO compliant
OCLC ILLiad interlibrary loan software has completed ISO ILL testing and is now fully compliant with ISO ILL standards. This ability to transmit and receive interlibrary loan requests via the ISO ILL protocol will provide OCLC ILLiad users with additional sources from which to request material. To celebrate ISO ILL implementation, OCLC is offering a 10 percent discount on all OCLC ILLiad purchases ordered and installed by 30 June 2002.
OCLC – http://www.oclc.org
LOCKSS: Lots of Copies Keep Stuff SafeStanford releases LOCKSS project user interface and participant map
Stanford University Libraries has released two new resources as part of its LOCKSS digital preservation project. One of them is a demo of the user interface to be used by libraries participating in the LOCKSS system. The other is an interactive online world map showing the status of the 60 test caches at 46 libraries worldwide. LOCKSS (Lots of Copies Keep Stuff Safe) provides a strategy for long-term preservation by systematically caching content in a self-correcting P2P network.
This project, midway through the beta testing of the LOCKSS software, enables libraries to maintain high integrity persistent caches of electronic journal content to which they have subscribed. Using a decentralized, peer-to-peer network of like holdings at other participating libraries, the LOCKSS system assures that libraries can retain indefinite access to subscribed journal issues, even if the publisher's online site goes down or the publisher goes out of business. This addresses one of the fundamental barriers to the acceptance of online journals on the part of libraries, namely the issue of assuring long-term access to content.
LOCKSS – http://lockss.stanford.edu/
RLGA new discussion list has recently been launched:oais-implementers@lists2.rlg.org
As the list name implies, this discussion list is intended for individuals and institutions who are actively working with the Open Archival Information(OAIS) Reference Model as a part of an overall effort to model, build, and manage their own digital archive or repository. List members will come from a variety of disciplines, including (though not restricted to) libraries,archives, space data centers, corporations, universities, and others.
RLG has created this list and its supporting Web pages (available at: http://www.rlg.org/longterm/oais.html)to facilitate communication and provide information about OAIS reference model implementations, applications, and related standards development. The list provides a forum for discussion among people engaged in similar activities while the supporting Web pages alert researchers to OAIS activities occurring in similar disciplinary or geographical areas.
To subscribe to the new list send the following message to listmanager@lists2.rlg.org: subscribe oais-implementers <FirstName LastName>
Contact Robin Dale: (Robin.Dale@notes.rlg.org)
